ninan.org

Jack

Boys' name · Early 20th-century perennial

Living in the US
~429,700 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#15 among boys
Births in 2025
8,754 759,677 since 1880
Typical age
23 years, median

Jack popularity over time

Jack rank by birth year, 1880–2025Jack ranked #77 in 1880 and #15 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #11, in 2021.#10#100#1518901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

1927 is the peak year for Jack, with 12,884 births. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. Across the record, 114 years put Jack in the top 100.

In 2025 it ranked #15 with 8,754 births.

Babies named Jack per yearPeaks at 12,884 births in 1927.12,884 in 1927018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Jack?

Roughly 429,700 Jacks are alive in the US right now. SSA has recorded 759,677 births under the name since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Jack?

Half of living Jacks are older than 23, half younger. Most living bearers were born in the 2000s. By the site’s era rules that makes Jack a early 20th-century perennial name.

Your Jack

Ages of living people named JackHalf of living Jacks are older than 23 and half younger.median 23020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Jack is most common

Vermont uses the name 3.0× as often as the country as a whole. New Hampshire, Wyoming and Maine follow.

Where Jack is used more than average5 states use the name Jack more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: 2.4× the national rateMEVermont: 3.0× the national rateVTNew Hampshire: 2.8× the national rateNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: 2.8× the national rateWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: 2.3× the national rateDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Jack is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Vermont 187 3.0×
New Hampshire 580 2.8×
Wyoming 161 2.8×
Maine 454 2.4×
District of Columbia 372 2.3×

Jack in England and Wales

In England and Wales, Jack ranked #24 in 2025 on 1,595 births. That is 45% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Jack comes from

From Middle English Jak, Jakke (also Jackin, Jankyn, etc.), from Anglo-Norman Jakke, *Janke, from Middle Dutch Janke, diminutive of Jan (“John”); equivalent. Doublet of Yankee.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Jack

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Jack London American author, journalist and social activist 1876–1916 144
Jack Kerouac American writer 1922–1969 99
Jack Ma Chinese businessman 1964 92
Jack Lemmon American actor 1925–2001 80
Jack Kilby American electrical engineer 1923–2005 79
Jack LaLanne American exercise instructor 1914–2011 68
Jack Steinberger German-American physicist, Nobel laureate 1921–2020 64
Jack Wilshere English association football player 1992 62
Photo credits (8)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 590 in 1899 to 1,058 in 1900 — 1.8 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Jack

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Jack was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/jack.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).